Inspiring lady

MY MOTHER Mrs Olive Sloan began her teaching career at the Tredegar Park Open Air School for “delicate “ children in 1949. 
I believe the senior teacher was a Miss Wade. 
The expression “delicate children” was an euphemism for “mentally handicapped” as children with learning difficulties were then called. 
Miss Wade had a sister who was then known as “educationally subnormal,” hence her interest in “mental health.” 
My mother spent over twenty five years in “mental health,” obtained two university degrees at Bristol University and became the foremost teacher of the then mentally handicapped children in South Wales. 
It was she who eventually managed to move these special needs children out of the health service and into the education service. 
She firmly stated that these children “are not ill” ,they just need special educational care. 
Through her perseverance many “backward” children were taught to read and write and make a contribution to their families rather than be a burden. 
My mother eventually retired to Spain because her husband suffered from malaria caught fighting the Japanese and he could no longer tolerate our winter weather. 
My mother died at the age of ninety six years and twenty days and sadly with her death a vast wealth of knowledge was lost.